'Brown tweaked golden rule'

Gordon Brown has "tweaked" his golden rule on borrowing because it was in danger of being broken, top economists claimed today.

They told MPs the Chancellor used an unorthodox method of calculating Britain's long-term balance in last week's Budget which showed him on course to pass narrowly his central economic-test - instead of failing it, as he would under other counting systems.

Martin Weale, of the respected National Institute for Economic and Social Research, accused the Treasury of trying to "tweak it here or there" to ensure meeting the golden rule - which states the budget should be balanced over the economic cycle so Britain borrows only to invest.

He told an all-party Commons committee: "My view is that what the Treasury is doing is double-counting interest."

Ciaran Barr of Deutsche Bank said: "If the Treasury themselves are going to use various ways of interpreting it, it's justifiable for us to point out that one of those ways is now in deficit."

Robert Chote of the Institute for Fiscal Studies said: "The Chancellor does appear to be painting himself into a corner, particularly on whether the rule is or is not going to be met over this specific seven-year financial period."